By CRAIG HARRIS, P-I REPORTER

Published 10:00 pm, Friday, August 3, 2007

Software developers who use Amazon.com's Web services, which include programs to store photographs and crunch data, now can tap into a new payment service.

The Amazon Flexible Payment Services was launched Friday as a beta test, and it is the first one built specifically for software developers, the company said.

The program allows developers to send and receive money, create specific instructions on how payments can be made, aggregate micro-transactions such as a penny into larger transactions and view account balances.

Amazon.com receives a fee for every transaction, but the Seattle-based company has a sliding scale based on whether payments occur through credit cards, bank drafts or from transfers within Amazon accounts.

"It allows a great deal more flexibility than has traditionally been available for developers," said Adam Selipsky, vice president for product management and developer relations.

Amazon.com, well-known for its online book sales, launched Web services in 2002 and now provides developers with 11 services including Simple Storage Service or S3, which uses the company's extensive computers to store data.

Another product is called Elastic Compute Cloud, which can be used to crunch data on Amazon's computers. With those systems, users pay only for the space they use.

Selipsky said the new service allows developers to collect funds from consumers in traditional one-time payments, such as paying for a book at Amazon.com, or with customized plans.

For example, a developer with a video-game site could create a plan where a parent could limit the number of transactions that a child could have to five per month and cap spending at $25.

"Amazon Web Services is really trying to provide the building blocks so developers can innovate and make money," Selipsky said.

Web Services has attracted 265,000 registered users, up 47 percent from 180,000 a year ago, the company said.